England are optimistic that Manchester United's Chris Smalling and Arsenal's Henri Lansbury will have recovered from a throat infection and an ankle injury respectively to play against the Czech Republic in the decisive final group match at the European Under-21 Championship tonight.

England left themselves needing to win their final Group B game to avoid crashing out of the European Under-21 Championship but defender Phil Jones said: "We would have taken that before the tournament."

It was, Liverpool's new acquisition Jordan Henderson agreed, what Ringo Starr famously called a hard day's night. Entirely unexpectedly, Henderson and his England Under-21 colleagues stole a late equalising goal on Sunday evening after being outplayed by Spain and suddenly the second match of their European Championship campaign, against Ukraine tomorrow is something to be approached with confidence.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger kicked off his summer transfer spending today with the £1million capture of promising young defender Carl Jenkinson from Charlton, but was left disappointed as England Under-21 international Phil Jones headed to Manchester United.

Arsenal have raised the stakes in their campaign to persuade the Football Association not to take Jack Wilshere to the Under-21s European Championships next month by disclosing playing-time statistics that they believe make him a severe injury risk.